HOW  TO  PRESCRIBE  AND  HOW  TO  WEIGH  IN  GRAINS.  359 
light  is  blood  red,  by  transmitted  light  a  fine  green.  Mr. 
Howard  expects  that  the  investigation  of  this  substance  will 
throw  much  light  on  the  formation  of  alkaloids  in  the  plant. 
With  the  exception  of  the  specimen  of  the  bark  of  the  Cin- 
chona Pahudiana,  the  value  of  which  as  a  quinine-yielding 
plant  is  questionable,  all  the  others  yielded  very  satisfactory 
results.  They  were  all,  however,  in  too  small  portions  for 
extensive  examination. 
A  correspondent  of  the  Journal  states  that  the  hydrochlo- 
rates  of  quinine,  quinidine,  and  cinchonine  may  be  distinguished 
from  the  sulphates  of  the  same  alkaloid  by  their  fusing  and 
giving  off  purple  fumes  when  heated  in  platinum  foil.  It 
seems  that  samples  of  the  hydrochlorate  of  cinchonine  have 
been  lately  passed  off  as  sulphate  of  quinidine. 
Strecker,  by  boiling  monobrominated  cinchonine  "with  an 
alcoholic  solution  of  potash,  and  passing  through  it  a  current 
of  carbonic  acid,  has  succeeded  in  forming  a  substance  having 
precisely  the  same  composition  as  quinine,  but  possessing 
different  properties.  It  will  be  remembered  that  cinchonine 
differs  from  quinine  in  having  two  equivalents  less  of  oxygen. 
The  new  substance  which  possesses  the  properties  of  an  alka- 
loid has  been  called  by  Strecker  oxycinchonine.  It  crystallizes 
in  colorless  plates,  and  differs  from  quinine  in  not  giving 
fluorescent  solutions.  Its  salts  crystallize  with  difficulty,  the 
most  crystaliizable  being  the  neutral  sulphate  and  oxalate.  It 
remains  to  be  seen  whether  its  therapeutic  effects  arc  also 
different — Chemist  and  Druggist,  March  15th,  1861. 
HOW  TO  PRESCRIBE  AND  HOW  TO  WEIGH  IN  GRAINS. 
Although  the  toils  of  practice  have  compelled  us,  as  they  have 
most  of  our  readers,  to  look  upon  chemical  manipulation  as  a 
thing  only  to  be  taken  up  on  some  rare  occasions,  yet,  sitting 
with  a  good  balance  and  set  of  accurate  grain-weights  in.  our 
study^  we  cannot  help  wondering  why  so  many  who  prescribe 
and  dispense,  and  why  the  Medical  Council  which  issues  regu- 
lations for  both  processes,  should  prefer  an  intricate  and  ob- 
scure system  of  weights  to  one  that  is  simple  and  obvious  at  first 
sight  to  every  one. 
